Author
Topic: dkshawn's Blog (Read 8651 times)

Hey guys, here's my DK background. I'm 42 and always loved arcade games back in the 80's. When I saw King of Kong I got the bug and ended up getting a MAME score of 530,600 which at the time was verified by TG and ranked 19th. I was happy being in the top 20. But as time went by I was knocked down to 25th which made me not happy. But I had kinda stopped playing.

I sort of came back to examine the scene and realized a lot had changed as TG was gone and I read a lot of posts about the problems with TG refs etc. Well some more time went by and honestly I was a bit confused as to where the community was. I was disappointed that all of the old TG forums posts were gone. I suppose I just wanted TG to be a good place for the community and wasn't so interested in other places. But I came to find that this forum is where the community is living now. And it seems to be thriving.

I also found that people were streaming over twitch which was something I knew nothing about. So I created a twitch account and tried streaming my MAME but the streaming software slowed my MAME down. So I didn't really want to do that. Also, when I had found the twitch streaming list I stumbled upon watching Corey Chambers. For me this was very fortunate as I chatted with Corey and he was really cool talking to me and gave me some information which was very usefull. I explained to him who I was and my background and he kindly added my verified TG score to this forums scoreboard. I was amazed to see that on the combined scoreboard of arcade and MAME I was ranked 75th. This kinda blew my mind as I hadn't realized how many people had scored so high.

Well, when I saw people were streaming their arcade machines and I had trouble doing that with MAME, and also that the kong off 3 qualifier was taking twitch streams, I decided to look to buy an actual DK machine. It would be a big step as I have never owned an arcade machine but I thought that all things considered, and I really enjoy the competition in DK, I would take the plunge and buy one. Well, after about two months of looking I found and bought an original DK machine in great condition for $600! I feel very lucky to have found this machine. It's kinda crazy how it's sitting in my 1 bedroom apartment but I am happy. So I set up a webcam and streamed a couple times but I havn't worked out the best webcam rigging yet.

So that is where I am at today. I have my own DK machine ready to stream. There was some definite getting used to with the distance the joystick needs to move vs. the keyboard and also the way the jump button responds. I don't know if it's nerves or what but I've only scored about 200k on my machine. On MAME I am near flawless on the elevator screen but not on the machine. There are other examples but I suppose I just need more time playing on the machine to get used to it.

I mention this so you can put me in my proper skill category which right now is not so great. I know I can definitely beat my 530k score as I have been practicing a lot but I havn't put a game together. I had been doing a lot of MAME save state level practicing for point pressing etc and I sort of lost the ability to put a full game together. I wouldn't say I am obsessed with DK as I think if I were I would play it more. It is more hobby for me now. I will try to stream for the qualifier but I don't expect to qualify. I just want to participate. In the back of my mind I'm thinking that maybe by next year I can improve my skills.

Also, I wanted to add what my personal goal is now and really has always been. I have not dreamed of the kill screen. I have dreamed of beating Billy's original high score ~850k. Point pressing doesn't appeal that much to me as I have been more interested in survival and distance (levels). I have a lot more to talk about but I will save it for other posts! I'm looking forward to interacting more with the DK community!

Logged

DK Cabinet 1,022,700 KS (1/24/2015)

corey.chambers

It is great to have you here, Shawn! That was a nice story. The cabinet price is a steal. I am not very good on my cab yet either. I think I am going to press for one million and then try to learn the cab, especially if by some miracle I can go and if I qualify to be in the Wildcard.

Finally passed 200k on my machine tonight. Three ridiculous deaths in a row on level 5 cement but then cruised to lvl 8 rivets where I died squished by 4 fireballs! New cabinet high score 280,500. Next stop 300k!

Well guys I am so excited tonight I played my cabinet and beat my MAME high score! My new pb is 548,600! Beat my old record by 18,000. But im so psyched my high score is on a cabinet. Unfortunately I wasn't streaming so I just have a picture but that's ok because I know I can do it again. I lost my first man at 400,200. Deaths included one super stupid jump into incoming pie at top right and another spring caught my little toe! im just so happy its been a couple years since i beat my own high score. i wasn't expecting it to happen since my games have been in the 200k range since i got my cab. Was lvl 15 and i was kinda speed running only 1 bottom hammer with very little point pressing.

Well I finally jerry rigged my webcams for streaming. I had an older webcam but I also bought a new one. (I won $200 playing poker on Sunday so it covered the cost ) So I have the new webcam pointed at the screen and the old one facing me straight on. For $11 I bought a led light with a clamp and a bendable arm. I cut the cord off. I put a 10 pound hand weight on top of the cab and clamped the light to it. I put another 10 pound weight on top of the first one to keep it from moving. Then I bent the arm with the round light in front of the monitor and took two rubber bands and strapped the webcam to the light (not so easy). Then I took my older webcam and just rested it behind the player1/player2 buttons so it points straight at me. It's a little ridiculous but it's solid and everything is out of the way and it's in great position to view the screen and myself. Now all I have to do is move my laptop over, plug in the two webcams and I'm ready to stream. I havn't been streaming hardly at all (mainly because setting up the stream was a pita) so hopefully I'll be streaming more and get to interact with you guys more. And maybe raise my score up! I'm up to 15-2 now so I'm starting to feel like the KS is in reach.

I think at some point I'm going to be required to show the insides of the machine (pita) so I'll have to put that on my to do list. I unscrewed the back (pita) and looked around when I first got the cab. It actually has some original paper instructions still stapled to the wood that says printed in Japan. Kinda cool. But I'm not really a hardware kinda guy and I don't know much about arcade parts. Except for some you tube videos I have watched about restoring DK cabinets. I know it's a two board system with like the jamma connectors at the edge of the boards but that's about it. Also, I detected no gummy substances! Haha!

Got really frustrated getting killed in mutliple game restarts on lvl 3/4 with wild barrels lasering into my head on the top girder. I got so frustrated with wasting time that I decided to avoid the top hammer on lvl 3/4. Then I put together another half way decent game on twitch. This time I upped my twitch record by about 100k. So this new video is 390,700.

I'm aiming for kill screen now because I think I can do it. Also it lets me not worry about points when my goal is the killscreen so I can spreed cruise through some levels faster. I need to get to lvl 5 consistantly without dying though. I'm really feeling like one of these days I'm going to break out a big game.

Update time. I tanked restart after restart dying in lvl 3 or 4, a lot of wild barrel insanity. Beyond ridiculous. So I realized I had a problem. Although I did beat mt name record on my cab it was a little fluky because I hadn't been practicing putting a full hame together for too long and I was having serious issues with consistency on lvl 3 n 4. So last night I practiced level 3 barrels like I don't know im going to exagerate 200 times on mame. I think I have some tweeks where I won't die still avoiding top hammer. Then I practiced on mame maybe another exagerated 200 times level 5 pie factory and I feel a little more confident about surviving firefoxes that beeline to the bottom. Still a tough screen. I feel pretty good about rivets still. So I think that when I get back to streaming I'll be able to put together better scores due to not having a restart fest. On a side note i sold an extra couch i had and its leaving tomorrow which will let me put my cab in its final destination so ill be waiting until then to stream again. Guys im putting in the effort i know my high score is going to go up soon.

So I've got my living room all straightened out and my DK cab is in a good spot now. Just finished streaming for today. I seem to be ok on lvl 1-5 now and I feel great about elevators. Just saved a stream on my channel of 417,300. At least that's a new streaming high score for me. I think I could've avoided two of the deaths. Also I noticed my other two saved streams had been deleted so I guess I need to click 'save forever' to make sure they don't get erased. Also, I need try try harder not to swear when I die when I'm streaming because I usually drop some f bombs everytime! Dying is so frustrating! lol

Was feeling pretty good about the 400k last game so I streamed another one. Got 420,900. First death at 225,000 fireball got ahead of me and ended up trapped on the right with wild barrel headed for me. I was feeling great until second death at about 380,000, I got lazy with a late start on a good second spring. Another another two mess ups on barrels and it was over. The last one I think I could've handled better. Still waiting for that big game.

Well I think my games are getting a little more consistant and I havn't been having restart fests from lvl 3 wild barrel deaths which is good. But last night I got so frustrated over other stupid early deaths that I decided I needed to drink some beer. I don't usually drink too much. But it relaxed me and I was grooving to my music and had I think a 328,000 game. But then today I played one game, I just finished, and got 410,000. I saved it on my twitch. So at least I think my consistancy is going up for having 400k range games. Kong off qualifier 2 is next weekend but my expectations are pretty low. Just going to keep working on my consistancy so I can raise my high score. My real hope is by KO4 to have reached the KS and to be working on my point pressing. I heard on Richie's culture show there may be some exciting news about KO4 so I'll be looking forward to finding out about that for a while!